Archive for the ‘Karzai. terror’ Category

As the U.S. continues with the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) to deal with terrorism in Afghanistan, the terrorists seem to have moved their attention and resources east to Pakistan.

U.S. soldiers patrol the Jaji district of the southeastern Paktia province, near the Afghan-Pakistan border, in Afghanistan, January 28, 2008.REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

“They ( the militants) are now facing the other direction and sending some resources to try and attack, to try and undermine Pakistani stability,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee this week.

And our sources are now saying that the number of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters passing from pakiston westward into Afghanistan has slowed considerably.

The terrorists seem to be going where the U.S. and NATO forces cannot go. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly said that U.S. and other coalition forces are not wanted or needed on Pakistani soil.

“Right now, as far as the infiltration, it’s actually been a little bit down lately,” Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez said.

“That’s due to several reasons. One, of course, is the instability and what’s going on in Pakistan and some of the challenges that are going over there, going over in Pakistan.”

Violence has soared in Afghanistan over the past two years, with the most attacks occurring in the east and south. NATO has about 15,000 troops, mostly Americans, in Afghanistan’s east.

Just this week several senior U.S. officials have said that additional NATO troops are needed.

Without identifying nations, Gates has said some members of NATO have not done enough to assist in Afghanistan — leaving the U.S. to shoulder the load.

“I think that it puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure and perhaps even get worse,” said Mr. Gates.

As he has before, Gates insisted he would continue to be “a nag on this issue” when he meets NATO defense ministers Thursday and Friday in Europe to discuss Afghanistan, but also said that only the Canadians, British, Australians, Dutch and Danes “are really out there on the line and fighting.”

“I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance, in which you have some allies willing to fight and die to protect peoples’ security, and others who are not,” Gates said during a Senate hearing on U.S. defense spending plans.

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia) thanked and congratulated Mr. gates and told him to keep after the NATO allies to do more.

Meanwhile the intelligence community in the U.S. sees al Qaeda and the Taliban deeply troubled by pressure from the U.S. and NATO.

“The question becomes, are we reaching a tipping point to witness the decline of this radical behavior?” said Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. “We don’t know but we are watching it very closely.”

“There seems to be a greater indication on the part of people within Islam to question the vision of al-Qaeda and the future that they’re holding out,” CIA Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during a hearing on worldwide threats. He said al-Qaeda’s leaders are “being forced to enter into a frankly open dialogue . . . with the body of believers.”